Newton brings Winston back to earth

Friday 15 August 2003 04.13 EDT
First published on Friday 15 August 2003 04.13 EDT

To the rest of the world Sir Isaac Newton - not Sir Winston Churchill - is the Greatest Briton in history.

The scientist best known for discovering gravity triumphed over the war leader by five percentage points in a BBC World poll announced yesterday.

The poll was conducted in the same way as the domestic vote in the BBC2 Great Britons series in November, in which more than a third of the 1.2 million Britons taking part chose Sir Winston, often regarded as the greatest Englishman since Nelson for his role as prime minister in the second world war years.

Newton reached only sixth place then, but in yesterday's international poll of 10,000 people the 17th-century mathematician was said to have been chosen by more than a fifth of voters, 21.4% against Churchill's 17%.

The other main difference between the polls was that the 19th-century railway, bridge and ship engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel came seventh with world viewers.

In November's poll of home viewers he was second to Churchill. Both votes followed the transmission of a series of programmes profiling 10 candidates.

The historian Tristram Hunt, who presented the Great Britons profile of Newton, said he was delighted that his choice had won. "I think it is a proper reflection of his genius that a global audience has voted him the Greatest Briton.

"Indeed, it was Newton's advances in physics - his understanding of gravity and planetary motion - that have sent satellites into space and allowed the series to be beamed round the globe. The world has now repaid the favour."

Narendhra Morar, commissioning editor for BBC World of Great Britons, said: "I think one of the reasons for Newton's victory was that the poll was conducted online and he would appeal to younger, computer-savvy voters.

"It's fascinating that our viewers chose a different greatest Briton to the original series, although Churchill still had a strong following and actually came first among BBC World's expatriate viewers."